Category Archives: Procurious News

We should probably all be grateful that Black Friday is over and done with for another year. But what have we learnt from the biggest shopping day of 2017?

There’s nothing quite like the cold panic of a missed opportunity. Particularly if said opportunity comes in the form of a heavily discounted HD television, bargain flights to Majorca in mid-January (who wouldn’t?!) or a half price sofa-bed (ideal if you can carry it out of the store mid-customer stampede).

Media hype surrounding “Black Friday”, which slowly seems to be evolving into “Black Week” and surely soon to be “Black Month”, increases year on year. Retailers face intense and increasing pressure to slash prices and offer the biggest and best best deals to entice Christmas shoppers and out-perform their competitors. As such, the fuss and excitement leading up to the biggest shopping day of the calendar year is palpable. The world’s consumers anticipate great things.

But does the propaganda live up to the reality? And what are the downsides of events like this for our supply chains, our procurement organisations and SMEs?

Black Friday 2017: The stats examined

Spend: It’s hard to argue against the importance of Black Friday to the economy. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2015 report, up to 30 percent of a retailer’s annual sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. Last year 101.7 million Americans braved the crowds, an increase of 37 per cent from the previous year and spent $655.8 billion over the four day weekend. This year, that figure is expected to have increased to a whopping $682.0 billion, and that’s just the U.S.!

Savings: The debate rages on over the true value, to the consumer, of Black Friday. Are you really nabbing a bargain? Aside from the obvious fact that many consumers wind up purchasing un-needed items, statistics show that many items, as much as six out of ten, are actually cheaper at other times throughout the year.

An Underwhelming start to UK’s Black Friday: Some members of the British public were seemingly raging on Twitter on Friday morning over the perceived anticlimax of Black Friday.

Others meanwhile, poked fun at the distinct lack of chaos in stores across the UK, noting the ever-present, ever-respected British culture of courteous queuing!

Debt: According to a 2016 survey by TD Bank, 25 per cent of Americans will take three months to pay of the debt racked up on Black Friday and the remainder of the holiday season

The demand of black Friday on our supply chains

As the BBC pointed out, whether they like it or loathe it, “most retailers on – and offline – will find it difficult not to join in” with Black Friday. If they don’t partake they’ll lose significant custom, which places enormous pressure on smaller, or struggling, organisations with tighter margins and less turnover.

However YouGov research commissioned by Amazon found that nearly 1 in 4 UK SME retailers intended to participate in Black Friday 2017 and 82 per cent of those participating are expecting to sell more stock on Black Friday than on an average day. The key to success for these SMEs is getting the pricing and forecasting right.

The anticipated frenzy also makes it difficult for organisations to accurately forecast volume of stock. According to data collected by Love the Sales, there was an unprecedented 43 per cent increase in the volume of items on sale in October this year compared to last year. Buy too little from suppliers, and they’ll run out of stock, buy too much and face having to do further discounting in the new year to shift products.

In these circumstances, buyers must ensure their supply chains are strong enough to cope with the increased demand for products and, most importantly, that their suppliers meet their compliance requirements.

Edie.net urged organisations to run traceability checks to identify any exploitative labour practices within their supply chain and recommended using the Internet of Things to track supply chain processes and spot any unusual patterns of behaviour.

In other procurement news this week…

Apple’s Illegal Labour

Apple’s main supplier in Asia has been employing students illegally working overtime to assemble the iPhone X, as it struggles to catch up with demand after production delays

3,000 students from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School were sent in September to work at the local facility run by Taiwan-based Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn

They were told that a three-month stint at the factory was required “work experience” that they had to complete in order to graduate

The latest procurement salary guide by recruiters Hays found 56 per cent of procurement employees reported a high level of salary dissatisfaction, and almost a quarter of those surveyed stated they intended to leave their current job because it lacks future opportunities

The average procurement and supply chain professional’s salary has increased 2.1 per cent over the past year, above the overall UK average of 1.8 per cent, Hays found. This rises to 3.6 per cent for procurement managers and senior buyers and to 4 per cent in the public sector

Hays salary guide is based on job listings, offers and candidate registration, as well as a survey of almost 17,500 employers and employees, including more than 700 working in procurement

We’ve had quite enough of the scare-mongering out there that says the robots are coming to steal our jobs! We’ve got some inside info that suggests having a human touch in your procurement team is by far the most important thing!

By 2020 all of our important procurement decisions will be made with the assistance of artificial intelligence. We know that our teams must “transform or die” if we don’t want the function reduced to the back office, facing extinction.

Given the scare mongering and hype around AI, most procurement professionals have accepted that they must map out their cognitive journeys, hone their skills and prepare for a very different future.

But what does that future look like? Are procurement teams of the future made up entirely of savvy data scientists? Can you even have a future in procurement if you’re not a data whizz?

Can you beat the bots with the human touch?

Our latest webinar, in partnership with IBM, takes the more optimistic, and realistic, approach that humans can, and will, win the day!

The idea that everyone needs to be a data scientist is a total fallacy. In reality, only a very small percentage of the workplace actually needs these skills. The rest of the procurement workforce will need to be managing relationships with the supply chain ecosystem.

If cognitive technology like IBM’s Watson can handle the sourcing, the market intelligence and the data, the biggest gap for procurement to worry about is soft skills.

Beat The Bots: How Being Human Will Win The Day examines how procurement’s role is transforming. We explore why the function needs to develop arelationship with the organisation that is much more strategic, placing it in a partnering and consultative role.

Think you could do with learning more about the importance of soft skills in the cognitive age, and which ones you should be concentrating on within your teams? Sign up for our webinar on 24th October and check out our FAQs below for all the information you require:

What content can I expect from the webinar?

We’ll be discussing:

What cognitive tools are on the horizon?

How will the advancement of cognitive technology be an enabler, and not the disabler, of your procurement career?

Why is the most robotically advanced procurement team in the world, focusing on their employees soft skills?

How can procurement teams map out their cognitive and talent journeys alongside each other?

If soft skills are king, which ones should you be developing?

Who are the guest speakers?

Tania Seary – Founder, Procurious

A true procurement entrepreneur, Tania is the Founding Chairman of Procurious, The Faculty and The Source. Throughout her career, Tania has been wholly committed to raising the profile of the procurement profession and connecting its leaders.

After finishing her MBA at Pennsylvania State University, Tania became one of Alcoa’s first global commodity managers.

In 2016, Tania was recognised by IBM as a #NewWaytoEngage Futurist and named “Influencer of the Year” by Supply Chain Dive. She hosts regular procurement webinars, and presents at high-profile events around the world.

John Viner-Smith – Principal, Mercer

John earned his masters in international procurement from Kedge Business School in Bordeaux in 2003 and went to work at JPMorgan Chase as HR Sourcing Manager for EMEA.

After a couple of years at JPM he moved into consulting with ATKearney, specialising in Procurement work and stayed in Consulting until 2009 (he moved to Deloitte) until moving back into industry with Dixons Stores Group, where he was Senior Category Manager for Marketing and IT.

After that he spent two years as a Principal at KPMG in Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory, where he became involved in work around Robotic Process Automation and Cognitive Computing in Shared Services environments before moving to Mercer to focus on a commercial excellence again.

He writes and lectures in leading business schools on the topic of Commercial Negotiation. John currently live in Oxfordshire with his wife and two children.

Justin has 20 years of Supply Chain experience and currently serves as IBM Procurements Learning & Development and Strategy Leader at IBM.

He has most recently been a Supply Chain Consultant for IBM specialising in logistics and procurement across numerous Industry verticals around the globe, including extended work in China, Mexico, Canada and Europe.

Justin’s passion for learning and development stems from his desire to collaborate and scale expertise through large organizations. Justin is a proud graduate of Loyola University-New Orleans and currently resides in New York City with his wife.

I’m already a member of Procurious, do I still need to register?

Yes! If you are already a member of Procurious you must still register to access the webinar via this platform. We’ll send you a confirmation email with a link to the webinar platform and a handy reminder one hour before we go live!

When is it taking place?

The webinar will take place at 1pm BST on 24th October 2017

Help! I can’t make it to the live-stream

No problem! If you can’t make the live-stream you can catch up whenever it suits you. We’ll be making it available on Procurious soon after the event (and will be sure to send you a link) so you can listen at your leisure!

Can I ask a question?

If you’re listening live, our speakers would love to hear your questions and we’d love for you to pick their brains . Questions can be submitted throughout the live stream via the webinar platform, or via Twitter when you tag #Beatthebots @procurious_

If you think of a brilliant question after the event, feel free to submit your question via the Discussion Board on Procurious and we’ll do our very best to ensure it gets answered for you.

Imagine an aircraft that can take off and land vertically, but isn’t a helicopter. It has an intelligent pilot, but there’s no human being sitting at the controls. Boeing has propelled itself into the world of futuristic aircraft with its acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences.

Boeing announced on Friday that it will acquire Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, a company that specialises in advanced robotic aircraft. Aurora already has an impressive portfolio of autonomous aircraft, including vehicles it has been working on with Uber for its flying taxi project.

Much of Aurora’s business in the past has been with the U.S. Military, namely DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA. Its aircraft have attracted interest (and funding) mainly due to its advanced Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) technology, with the small company beating out Boeing and Lockheed Martin last year to build the VTOL X-Plane for DARPA.

What does Boeing plan to do with this technology? The organisation’s press release doesn’t reveal much, but there’s speculation that the acquisition will help bolster Boeing’s own expertise in autonomous aircraft and VTOL tech, with most of that knowledge being funnelled into military aircraft. On the civilian side, the combination of autonomous piloting and VTOL technology are ideal for finally developing the drone taxis we’ve been hoping for. It is unclear whether Aurora will continue to work with Uber on this project.

A report in the Wall Street Journal notes that the acquisition is likely to have an impact on the jet maker’s supply chain long before it produces self-flying planes: “The technology includes … machine learning capability, which could be used to make industrial operations more efficient. Aurora produces composite parts for aircraft and other vehicles, potentially a big attraction to Boeing as it looks to take greater command of its supply chain.”

In other news this week:

Air France Testing Blockchain Technology

Air France KLM’s engineering and maintenance division is evaluating the potential for Blockchain to become its new digital ledger for managing replacement parts on in-service aircraft.

A spokesperson noted that Blockchain’s resilience, traceability, integrity and disintermediation are well suited to the aviation supply chain.

Elon Musk On Track To Win Solar Battery Bet

Elon Musk has announced that Tesla has reached the halfway point of construction on the “world’s biggest battery” in South Australia.

The company has a 100-day deadline to complete the construction of a 100-megawatt battery array, or it will build it for free.

Contrary to popular belief, the victims of modern slavery are not always hidden away in secret locations. After a 126% increase in reported slavery, Crimestoppers UK has partnered with a labour abuse authority to help the public – and supply management professionals – recognise slavery taking place in their own backyard.

As procurement professionals worldwide move to stamp out modern slavery in their supply chains, the enormity of the challenge needs to be met with every available tool. Compliance with legislation, accreditation programs, policies and procedures are all very necessary, but so, too, is simply keeping your eyes and ears open when visiting suppliers on-site.

Crimestoppers and the GLAA (Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority) have released nine common signs that victims of modern day slavery share. These signs are intended to raise public awareness and encourage people to report their suspicions, but many are relevant for supply managers, too. Keep an eye out for these signs when visiting your first-tier suppliers, and encourage your suppliers to do the same with their suppliers, and so on.

Nine Signs to Spot

Victims of modern slavery may:

Show signs of injury, abuse and malnourishment

Look unkempt, often in the same clothing and have poor hygiene

Be under the control and influence of others

May have inappropriate clothing for the work they are performing, and/or a lack of safety equipment

Be collected very early and/or returned late at night on a regular basis

May be isolated from the local community and their family

Live in cramped, dirty, overcrowded accommodation

Have no access or control of their passport or identity documents

Appear scared, avoid eye contact, seem untrusting

Crimestoppers’ statistics in the UK alone show a 126% increase in information received on slavery in the past six months compared to the previous six-month period. It is this general rise in slavery figures nationwide which reflects why the GLAA has recently been granted a broader remit and stronger powers to tackle labour exploitation across the economy, introducing the capacity to search and seize evidence and investigate modern slavery where it relates to labour abuse and other offences.

Emily Van der Lely, Crimestoppers Lead on Slavery, said: “It’s so awful to hear that slavery is even an issue in this day and age, but we want to reassure victims that it is an issue that is taken extremely seriously, and make it clear to perpetrators that they will be found and prosecuted.

“By launching this campaign, we will educate the public as to the signs to spot and let them know that they can take action on this horrendous crime, without compromising their anonymity.”

Paul Broadbent, Chief Executive of the GLAA, said: “The public need to understand and be aware that modern slavery is happening right now, in and around the communities they live. Exploiting someone for their labour, forcing them to work, using people as commodities – these practices are abhorrent and we need the public’s help to stamp it out..”

Common industries for modern slavery:

Transport

Warehousing

Agriculture

Construction

Maritime

Restaurants/Takeaways

Car Washes

Nail Bars

In other news this week:

EU Data Protection Compliance: are you prepared?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect in the EU on May 25th, 2018. Under the new legislation, data subjects have the right have their data erased, obtain information about exactly what data is being processed, receive a copy of personal data concerning them, and fight decision that affect them that have been made on a purely algorithmic basis.

Data science company, Dataiku, has published a white paper detailing how organisations that handle big data can start on the path towards GDPR compliance.

An authoritative report from The Beijing Axis titled The China Compass has recommended that organisations recalibrate procurement from China as the country shifts to higher cost and higher value-add manufacturing.

The report recommends organisations adapt their supply focus by shifting to tier-2 suppliers in China and tier-1 suppliers in lower-cost Asian countries.

China is tipped to provider higher-end solutions and technology in industries where it has gained an advantage.

Social Procurement Platform a World First

VendorPanel, an Australian Procurement technology company, has launched an online platform called ProcureForGood to drive positive social and economic change.

Reportedly the first such platform of its kind, ProcureForGood brings together multiple verified social procurement databases onto one marketplace platform.

The platform is the result of a collaboration between VendorPanel, Supply Nation, BuyAbility (National Disability Service) and Social Traders, and is predicted to be powerful for managing the large volume of low-value procurement (under $150k) that exists within government and corporate organisations.

When you’re the CPO of a global business, it certainly helps to be passionate about procurement! Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be a problem for Vodafone’s CPO, Ninian Wilson.

He’s passionate about his people, the digital revolution and innovation and he’s got some invaluable advice for Procurious members on fostering all three in big companies.

He might be managing a spend of €22bn, but he’s still found the time to partake in this week’s Career Boot Camp, sharing his words of wisdom with the next generation of procurement superstars.

Five days, five CPOs, five fifteen-minute podcasts to help you upgrade your procurement career.

Featuring tips and guidance from the best in the business, each of our CPOs will dedicate their week to coaching you on becoming the best procurement leader you can be!

On Day 2 of Career Boot Camp we turn our attentions to Vodafone’s CPO, Ninian Wilson.

Need a little convinving before you sign up? Check out our teaser trailer below to hear what Ninian had to say in reponse to our quick-fire questions.

Lock up your data scientists

Procurious was interested to learn how Ninian has seen procurement skill-sets evolve over time. One thing’s for sure, when it comes to valuing procurement skills in his new hires, Ninian knows exactly what he’s looking for.

“I think it’s constantly evolving. I think one very common skill from when I joined; we were looking for just super great negotiators.

“I think that’s changing now and I think as we move more and more digital, we’ll even be trying to hire some data rockstars, which we call them, and people that aren’t quite data scientists, but very close to it. Those who understand how data is structured and understand how to manipulate it, how to present it, how to get insights from data and information. That skill base is changing a little.”

Businesses are gaining access to more and more data than we could ever have imagined and, as Ninian explained, procurement needs to be able to structure it, stream it and gain insights from it.

“We’ve got one of our young staff here, he’s absolutely fantastic, and he is a data scientist.” Ninian continues. “He’s helping us on our process analytics, pointing out where we’ve got poor process, which is impacting how people work with the Supply Chain and the business. He’s a very valuable asset and there’s not many of them around so I’m not going to say his name!”

110 per cent behind cross-cultural working

Perhaps one of the reasons Ninian is able to innovate so readily at Vodafone is the incredible diversity within the business. “We’ve got tremendous cultural diversity in our business. I absolutely love working in a diverse company. We’ve got 50 different nationalities here in the Vodafone procurement company. And obviously with 26 operating companies throughout the world, the opportunity to experience different cultures and to work with people from different cultures is always there at Vodafone and one of the key strengths that we have, not just a multinational corporation, but we’ve got real local roots and local perspectives in terms of how we do business. I think there’s a lot of value in that for a lot of large organisations.”

How does he feel about members of his team heading off to experience working around the globe? Pretty good, it seems!

“You’d find me 100 per cent, 110 per cent if I’m allowed to go over the 100, supportive of that. We’ve brought a number of people from our Indian business to the Luxembourg office to try and sort of move people around. We are also very keen on rotating staff in and out of the procurement company into different operating companies so that they can learn a little bit more about the culture, a little more about how things get done around here. Because we think it enriches the individual.

Listen to Ninian’s full podcast when you sign up to Procurious. Career Boot Camp 2017 launches on 4th September, featuring podcasts with 5 global CPOs. Sign up here (It’s FREE!)

Already a member of Procurious? You’re automatically enrolled for Career Boot Camp! Click here to listen to Ninian’s podcast in full.

Today marks exactly one month until the Big Ideas Summit in Chicago! NOW is the time to sign up as a Digital Delegate and access globe-beating content from the procurement capital of the world.

If you’re interested in getting involved but still not entirely sure what’s going on, look no further – we’ve compiled a list of our most frequently asked questions to get you fully up to speed!

What is it?

The Big Ideas Summit is a unique online event uniting procurement and supply chain professionals from around the globe to drive innovation and inspire change. At the Big Ideas Summit in Chicago we’ll be driving the conversation on the following topics:

After the stunning success of the 3rd annual Big Ideas Summit in London, we’re continuing our global tour in Chicago on 28 September 2017. Expect to see most of the action between 09.00 – 17.00 (CDT) as we share video insights, quotes, photos and summary articles direct from Chicago.

If you can’t join the action live, not to worry. The thought-provoking discussions and debate will continue long after, and we’ll be sharing video footage of all our Influencers Big Ideas throughout September on Procurious.

Where is it?

Although our Top Influencers will be meeting in at the Wit Hotel in Chicago, due to the summit’s digital nature Procurious members across the world can get involved from the comfort of their office, armchair or even from the beach!

Procurious members can also use our iOS App to follow the action. It’s available in the Apple iTunes store and is free to download.

How can I join in?

You’ll need to be a registered member of Procurious – join here for free if you haven’t already. Then simply join the group to access thoughtful opinions, participate in insightful discussion, connect with our Influencers, access exclusive podcasts and interviews and share your own Big Ideas with the Procurious community.

We’ll also be live tweeting throughout the day, so make sure you’re following @procurious_ to share and respond to our tweets using the hashtag #bigideas2017.

Do I have to be a member of Procurious?

Yes. Participation as a Digital Delegate is free and open to all members of Procurious. By joining Procurious, you will not only have access to all the exclusive Big Ideas Summit content, but you will join a community of 23,000 like-minded procurement peers and gain access to all Procurious’ free resources, including being able to:

Upskill on the move with dozens of eLearning modules

Get your procurement questions answered by experts

Find out about relevant professional events around the globe

Become a digital delegate in the global think-tank, Big Ideas Summit 2017

Will Big Ideas be live-streamed?

Procurious boasts a global audience of 23,000+ procurement professionals, from more than 140 countries. If we were to cater to all of these time zones, it would be a tough job – so rather than live-streaming (and keeping you awake at awkward hours), we’ll share exclusive video and podcast interviews with Digital Delegates.

I’m on the fence – why should I take part?

Here are five compelling reasons to join your fellow Procurians and stake your claim to the wealth of knowledge on offer:

An audience with 50 of the world’s top procurement influencers

Get your questions answered by world-class experts

Make powerful new contacts around the globe

Share your own Big Idea and make your voice heard

Access exclusive content & learnings

Who are the ‘Top Influencers’?

The term ‘influencers’ refers to the face-to-face delegates who will gather in Chicago. Our experts span the worlds of procurement, technology, social media, journalism, social media, economics and academia.

Who are the sponsors?

The Chicago Big Ideas Summit is made possible by our partners IBM, Proxima, and Basware.

I’ve got a Big Idea of my own…

Great to hear! You can Tweet us your Big Ideas @procurious_ remembering to use the hashtag #BigIdeas2017.

Leave your Big Idea on Facebook – you can find us at www.facebook.com/procurious .

And of course you can tell the Procurious community all about it by joining the Big Ideas Group page and posting it to the community feed.

With world-class talent and unlimited potential, a career in procurement can be brilliant … but you’ll need a plan to make it happen. That’s why we’ve launched our “My (Brilliant) Procurement Career” survey to understand how YOU will manage your own career into the future.

Ten minutes is all it will take to put yourself in the running to win this quadcopter!

We need your input to discover:

In what ways are our peers across the globe seizing control of their own career management?

Do procurement professionals expect the profession to thrive, or to disappear by 2030?

Is crowdsourcing answers on social media an effective way to get the solution you need?

Do individuals in procurement feel isolated, or well-connected with the wider profession?

We’ve kept the survey to under 10 minutes – we know you’re busy!

Want to know more about the quadcopter? Check out this video review:

Cool, right? But you’ve got to be in it to win it! My Online Career is only open until Friday 8th September. You’ll also receive a copy of the report summarising the findings of the survey.

Sick to death of the daily grind? A well-earned career break might be just the ticket!

Our webinar, Out of Office: Your Career Break (Through), takes place at 1pm BST on 10th August 2017. Register your attendence for FREE here.

It was once considered a career kamikaze but taking time out mid-career is a growing trend. Nowadays, it is often supported, and even encouraged, by employers to help retain, refocus and re-inspire their employees.

In 2010, 4 million people in the UK took a career break in one form or another, a number that continues to increase. One in four employees work for companies that offer sabbaticals and these companies represent 34 per cent of the “Best Places to Work in Europe”.

Turn a mid-career break into a career break through!

Do you ever wish that you had the guts to bite the bullet and embark on the adventure of a lifetime? Or perhaps you’re on a career break that wasn’t self-imposed and you’re desperate for it to end. Maybe you’re coming to the end of a life-changing sabbatical, currently on parental leave or stuck betwen jobs…

The future is uncertain; you don’t know what your options will be when you return to work or how you’ll explain a stonking great gap in your CV to the recruitment agency.

But help is at hand! Whatever the scenario, we’ve got a solution. Whether you’re considering a complete career make-over or simply taking a few weeks to hang out in a hammock this summer, Procurious’ latest webinar Out of Office: Career Break (Through) will help you make the most of your precious time out and prepare you for when it’s all over!

What can I expect from the webinar?

Some of our discussion topics will include:

How will a career break help or hinder your career in the long run?

Once you’ve decided to take a career break, how do you decided where to spend it, what to do and how do you stay sharp?

Is there a right or wrong time to take a career break?

How to use your career break wisely – advice from the experts!

What are some of the unexpected benefits of taking a career break?

How do you prepare for your eventual return to work?

How employers can support career breaks and retain top talent

Who are the guest speakers?

Ruji Mahmud, Vice President, Sourcing- DSM

Ruji is one of procurement’s brightest young stars with experience across chemicals, agro-chemicals, and pharma. Ruji put her booming career on hold to take stock during an eight month career break which she credits for making her focused, balanced and, in her own words, invincible!

Ruji is currently working in a project team at DNS to look at how the business can better support and retain women who want to take time out to have a family.

Anne Berens, Principal – AMB ProCures LLC

Previously Senior Director for Global Sourcing and Procurement at McDonald’s Corporation, Anne Berens left corporate life for a career break and to start her own business, AMB ProCures LLC.

AMB ProCures LLC is a consultancy targeting organisations that want improved effectiveness in their procurement function.

Tony Megally, General Manager – The Source

Tony has enjoyed a long standing consulting career and has had the benefit of working with some of Australia’s most admired recruitment and search firms in the sector. At The Source, Tony is responsible for leading the overall business into its next phase of growth and future success.

How do I register for the webinar?

Registering for our webinar is as easy as pie, and it’s FREE! Click here to enter your details and confirm your attendence. We’ll send you a reminder email with a link to the webinar page shortly before it goes live!

I’m already a member of Procurious, do I still need to register?

Yes! If you are already a member of Procurious you must still register to access the webinar. Make sure you are logged into you Procurious account first and then Click here to enrol. We’ll send you a reminder email with a link to the webinar page shortly before it goes live!

When is it taking place?

The webinar will take place at 1pm BST on 10th August 2017

I can’t make it, am I able to listen to the webinar at a later time?

Absolutely! The webinar will be made available in the Learning area of Procurious shortly after our live broadcasting. If you aren’t able to make it on 10th August, we’ll send you a link to this so you can listen at your lesiure.

Can I ask a question?

If you’re listening live, our speakers would love to hear your questions. Questions can be submitted via the webinar platform, or via Twitter by tagging #OutOfOffice @procurious_ If you think of a question after the event, feel free to submit your question via the Discussion Board on Procurious and we’ll ensure it gets answered for you.

Our webinar, Out of Office: Your Career Break (Through), takes place at 1pm BST on 10th August 2017. Register your attendence for FREE here.

The issue of maverick spend continues to dominate the Procurious Discussion Board. Does the solution lie in systems? People? Or something else entirely? Let’s examine some of the approaches to tackling mavericks that came up when this question was crowd-sourced to the global Procurious community.

We keep an eye on the most popular discussion questions here on Procurious. One topic that always generates a buzz is the issue of how to deal with maverick spend. The fact that this question keeps rearing its head proves that the problem is perennial; there’s no easy fix and it’s unlikely to be 100% solved any time soon. It’s also an area of common ground shared across our hugely varied procurement community. No matter what sector or geography you may be based in, everyone gets frustrated with maverick spend.

The value in the Discussion Board lies in the authenticity of the advice. Real procurement practitioners share real experiences, war-stories and recommendations, which is so refreshing compared to the “advice” given by agencies trying to push a product or service. There’s also an inherent acknowledgement that there’s no one correct answer – instead of being told by a systems provider that there’s a single, guaranteed fix to your problem, you might get 15 different crowd-sourced responses that you can use to cobble together your own tailored solution.

Systems or people?

Suggested approaches to tackling maverick spend tend to fall into two camps – systems vs people. A discussion started by Louise Cairns shows a great cross-section of suggestions across both these categories.

Procurious member George Thompson, for example, had this advice: “Having a good e-Procurement Portal in place, which is mandated to be used for seeking competitive quotes from suppliers, would be a great help. Simple to use, robust and efficient and very inexpensive SaaS e-Procurement Portals are available … by all means set guidelines, but ensure that there is a user-friendly e-Procurement system in place to support your policies.”

Justin Plokhooy takes the people view: “Relationships, Relationships, Relationships! … Growing your relationships with those perpetrators of maverick spend is vital to ensuring their understanding of the value Procurement can bring. The reason they are behaving like they are is because they probably either don’t fully understand what Procurement brings to the table or had a bad experience that has tainted their view of Procurement.”

Plokhooy advocates the “good cop” approach to engagement: “This is a situation where you will catch more flies with honey rather than vinegar. Heavy handed tactics won’t work.”

Scott Seymour writes that it’s about “Communication and building relationships. You also have to prove your worth to the stakeholders, which can be a daunting task, but stick with it and let them see the value sourcing can bring. Follow this up with data to show the results you are bringing.”

Getting to the root cause of maverick spend

James Ferguson writes: “I would say that maverick purchasing is normally a sign that something is wrong with the current process; people are unaware of the agreements in place, they don’t like the chosen suppliers, the system sucks, the procurement process takes too long, they can’t get the exact goods/services they need or some other issue that is stopping them. Either way, it is Procurement’s job to find out what the root cause is and solve the customers’ issue.”

Iain Wicking, a frequent commenter on the Discussion Board, agrees: “Root cause analysis is a good place to start … [companies] try to solve the problem not realising the … causes are ‘up-stream’ in terms of poor processes, hard to use systems and/or poor leadership that fails to mandate systems (providing they are easy to use) and project the value of good procurement practices (could be a combination of all of these).”

After a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the best way to address maverick spend is by using a taser, Daniel Warnock writes that “Maverick purchasing is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. People buy outside the procedure for various reasons (lack of awareness of the procedure, the existing contract does not suit their requirements etc). Identify the underlying problem and maverick purchasing should be minimised.”

“Maverick purchasing is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself.”

Cristian Martin has a similar message: “Address why there is maverick spend. Do you have the right policies in place? Has training been given to staff? Do you have the support from your senior management team? Have you given poor customer service in the past?”

And finally, this gem from Piyush Shah gives us some valuable insight into the mind of a maverick: “At a place I worked, there was a feeling [of] us (the people at the plant) versus them (the people at head office). Maverick buying was a way to assert our independence and dominance over them. It was clearly brinkmanship from both sides.”

Keith Bird, Managing Director of The Faculty, comments that the popularity of this topic demonstrates that compliance is a long-term challenge. “Maverick spend and contract leakage hamper effective benefits realisation, but a focus on compliance, effective business partnering and an understanding of the business pressure points will help CPOs make savings stick.”

You’ve crowd-sourced your peers’ solutions, now it’s time to read the report! Download The Faculty’s “Making It Stick” research on tackling maverick spend and driving savings all the way to the bottom line.

They say all good things must come to an end, and, sadly it holds true for our FREE e-Learning videos. The good news? You’ve still got a little time to enjoy them! You’ve got four weeks to access our eLearning course “Introduction to Procurement” for FREE: enrol here.

Good times don’t last forever, and boy has Procurious had some good times in the last three years – don’t worry, that’s not going to change anytime soon!

What is about to change, however, is the pricing of our eLearning videos, which you can find in the Learning Area of Procurious.

If you’ve been with us, and supported us, from the beginning, you’ll know that our fantastic eLearning course, Introduction to Procurement, is currently available to our members free of charge.

But, on the 30th June, everything changes. The entire course of 17 modules, covering everything from Profiling the Supply Market to Developing a Scope of Work and Negotiation for Procurement will instead be available for the price of USD$135.

Get ’em while they’re hot* (*FREE)

We’d hate for you to find yourself half-way through our eLearning course, which you’d started for free, and suddenly faced with a charge.

We also want to give you, our loyal Procurious members, plenty of notice and opportunity to share the course with your networks and procurement teams, before the new pricing comes into effect.

Tell your mother, tell your father, tell your sister and your brother (and, most importantly, your procurement peers) that they’ve got four more weeks to enjoy the course free of charge! With over two hours of video footage, you better get started. Go, go , go!

But it starts off simple. If you’ve ever wished you had an easy and pain-free answer to that awful question from a distant relative, “So…what exactly is procurement?” here’s your answer:

The course progresses to highlight all aspects of the procurement profession. It gives you food for thought on your own approach and capabilities. It discusses topics such as the value of procurement, processes, market research, negotiating, strategy, social procurement and much more.

Module 6, for example, focuses on Spend Analysis:

What happens after 30th June 2017?

From the 1st July, the course will be available for USD$135 (£110) and includes:

2 hours of on-demand video

14 supplemental resources

Full lifetime access

Access on mobile and TV

Certificate of completion

Don’t forget there’s a whole host of free eLearning content on Procurious ranging from podcasts to webinars and videos.

That’s right! The majority of our eLearning content will still be available completely for free!